Are you the type who stresses over taxes or one who enjoys the annual task? Whichever type you are, you can benefit from the options these days we all have for filing our returns. Remember the days where e-filing and tax software seemed to cost a pretty penny? Well, depending on your income and some basic math, you can file without the need for expensive software or tax prepares. The Federal and State websites have a wealth of good info about completing your taxes. After all, they want their money!
Free Filing
If your income is $57k or less, there are a number of tax software companies who make their software available for use, for free! Some even support State returns.
If you’re comfortable completing the forms yourself, you can complete and submit for free regardless of your income. This way assumes you kind of know what you’re doing so there’s only filling in numbers and basic calculations are done. No State returns here though, just Federal.
Cheap Filing
This is the route we go. I like the H&R Block Basic Tax Prep Software. We usually end up paying $14.99. Sure, I’ve done this enough over the years that I feel pretty comfortable doing my own taxes. But the way I look at it is for $14.99 it buys me the comfort of knowing I didn’t miss anything. For this price, you can file multiple Federal returns and even long forms. It’s fast too – I can import my info from the previous year and then just enter some data from my W2.
State Returns
And my .02$ on State returns. Whatever method you’ve used to knock out the the Federal return, the majority of the work for the State return is done.
I’ll be honest, I always do the State the old fashioned way on paper and mail it. Once I have my Federal return done, the State form is as easy as filling out some information using the info from the Federal return.
For Illinois, using the MyTax website, after registering you can print, complete, and e-file your return according to their website. Maybe this year, I’ll give this way a go.
Of course since we live where we do, the State info is for Illinois. If you live in another state, simply Google-ize (yes, I made that up and have been using it for years) search your State along with the words “Department of Revenue”, and you’ll find your info.
Refunds
By now everyone knows you can get your money back pretty quickly when you e-file by having it electronically deposited into a checking/savings account. Take advantage of getting your money quicker!
